Dean of Northwestern's J-school forcefully condemns student newspaper's editors' decision to apologize for coverage of Jeff Sessions event

Sarah D | 4:04 PM on November 12, 2019

In case you missed it, editors at Northwestern University’s student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern, recently apologized for some of their reporters decisions to tweet “retraumatizing and invasive” photos from a campus event at which Jeff Sessions spoke. They also apologized for staff — gasp! — using the student directory to contact potential interview subjects and for accurately quoting a student protester who had agreed to be quoted.

The student newspaper at Northwestern, home to one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country, has issued a groveling apology for…doing journalism, during & after Jeff Sessions’ speech on campus. As a proud alum, I’m embarrassed by this: https://t.co/ggEPyXU8n5

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 11, 2019

Guy Benson, who graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, was understandably disgusted by the Daily Northwestern’s “editors’ unseemly and anti-journalistic groveling,” and he wrote about it in a piece at Townhall:

On the embarrassment at my beloved alma mater, #Northwestern:
https://t.co/CK2jr7gP1V

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 12, 2019

Read the whole thing. The Daily Northwestern’s editors’ conduct was nothing short of shameful.

So it’s incredibly refreshing and heartening to read Medill Dean Charles Whitaker’s response to the Daily Northwestern’s editors’ apology:

Statement from Medill Dean Charles Whitaker on The Daily Northwestern's coverage of campus events: https://t.co/d4R2yE1xrK.

— Northwestern Medill (@MedillSchool) November 12, 2019

Again, be sure to read the whole thing.

“I am deeply troubled by the vicious bullying and badgering that the students responsible for that coverage have endured for the ‘sin’ of doing journalism.” https://t.co/9s72V3NRmo

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 12, 2019

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the campus activists who pressured NU's student paper also insisted that journos shouldn't report on "communities other than those from which they hail." pic.twitter.com/mwWztZcd50

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) November 12, 2019

Journalism — real journalism — isn’t about caving to activist thugs. It’s about honest and accurate reporting. The Daily Northwestern’s reporters attempted to do journalism and were punished by their editors, who are supposed to uphold the values of real journalism. Good on Whitaker for standing up for reporters who did their jobs.